Denmark won the 1992 championship. The team had qualified only after Yugoslavia was disqualified as a result of the breakup and warfare in the country. Eight national teams contested the finals tournament.[1]

Also present at the tournament was the CIS national football team (Commonwealth of Independent States), representing the recently dissolved Soviet Union whose national team had qualified for the tournament. It was also the first major tournament at which the reunifiedGermany (who were beaten 2–0 by Denmark in the final) had competed.

It was to be the last tournament with only eight participants, the last to award the winner of a match with only two points, and the last tournament before the introduction of the back-pass rule, which was brought in immediately after the tournament was completed. When the next competition was held in 1996, 16 teams were involved and were awarded 3 points for a win.

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On 16 December 1988, Sweden was chosen over Spain to host the event, following a decision made by the UEFA Executive Committee.[2] Spain was at a disadvantage as they had already been chosen to host the EXPO 1992 and the 1992 Summer Olympic Games.[2][3]

Originally, Yugoslavia qualified for the final stage, but due to the Yugoslav wars, the team was disqualified and their qualifying group's runner-up, Denmark, took part in the championship.[6] They shocked the continent when Peter Schmeichel saved Marco van Basten's penalty in the semi-final penalty shoot-out against the Netherlands, thus defeating the defending European champions.[7] The shock was compounded when Denmark went on to defeat the reigning world champions Germany 2–0 to win the European title.[8]

It was the last tournament to use the UEFA plus flag logo, and the last before the tournament came to be known as "Euro" (it is known as "Euro 1992" only retrospectively). It was also the first major football competition in which the players had their names printed on their backs, at around the time that it was becoming a trend in club football across Europe.